Hello, neighbors! 

As promised, here are the current standings of the pending litigation against the Alvo Board of Trustees. 

First, before there was ever a court appearance made, my attorney and the not-yet-officially-hired village attorney had a conversion on March 18th regarding potential settlement requirements. To which I wrote this up: 

• Meetings to be voided: Feb. 6th including Ordinance 2024-001 and Resolutions 2024-001 and 2024-002. Ordinance 2024-001 was written for a community that is 109% larger than Alvo which does not have a dedicated employee handling Open Records Request. There is zero reason it needs to be that complicated or impossible for a population barely over 100 people. Not only was a majority not present for this meeting to be voted in, they also did not provide the three readings nor waive them. To cover it up, they wrote the minutes as if they had performed these operations. It is not beyond me to realize that they passed the Ordinance and Resolution 2024-001 to further spite my ORR attempts.
  • This includes nullifying the meeting held on February 20, 2024 as well as the amendments that were made to Ordinance 2024-001. This meeting was not publicly notified as typical village protocol.  
  • Included as well is the vote to get a website for the village. We’ll get to that in a minute.
• Emergency Meeting from November 7, 2023 also nullified. If clarification is needed as to why, read it here. This meeting was also held with no public notification and doesn’t appear to qualify as an Emergency by any stretch of the concept.
• Every meeting that has resulted in minutes where silent audience members are identified – see notes (This trend began in November, 2023 and has occurred each month since.) I’ve been noticing problems with information that is required missing since September.
• Access to the office must be restored for the public during business hours as posted as it has been paid for with public dollars.
• Public records are public. Period. No excuses for wanting to protect sensitive information – that information should not be submitted as public to begin with. This includes audio recordings of the meetings, documents submitted during them, as well as Clerk reports, etc.
• A public acknowledgement of the Board’s actions regarding Open Records Requests, Open Meetings Laws, and how it has negatively affected both constituents’ and the Board’s relationship with the community. A public acknowledgement and apology for threats would be a great place to start, along with a vow that they will not continue. A public statement that public records are also available to be viewed during office hours would go far to repair bridges amongst the community.
• The statement in the opening of meetings saying that this is not a Q & A for the Board/citizens needs to go. Some people are permitted to ask questions, and receive answers, while others are not. This was implemented after CCA Chris Perrone attended a meeting and I asked the Board which among them had read the OMA. Their responses were comical and on video. 
• All recordings of public meetings need to be saved. I understand storage can be an issue once these add up, but there are ways to shrink the file size down without compromising quality. My partner can help with that.
• In order for the Board to repair some of the damage that their iron fists, lack of tolerance, refusal to work with or hear members of the community, and results from incompetence on their part, making a strong, forward-thinking effort to re-engage and mend bridges with community members should be to reinstate the Planning and Zoning Committee. As well, any committee that the community forms on their own should be welcomed by the Board as they will be relieving some burden. These committees should not be mishandled by the Board of Trustees, nor are they to be ignored, threatened, or dismantled because the Board doesn’t agree with their goals. I understand that PC members would need to be re-selected but there are multiple members of our community who are interested in taking on a more engaged role for our community. However, the damage done by the Board resulting in them dismantling the PC over a rule that was imposed by the former Clerk and Chairman is exceedingly damaging. The community sees the Board as controlling everything, even down to being permitted to ask questions during monthly meetings. I would highly recommend efforts to mend those bridges through Town Halls and altering points of view with the Board to be open minded to what the community wants instead of their own personal agendas.
• Rescind the vote to obtain a website operated by the village Board. The community already has one, provided at no cost, being operated by a community member. The whole point of these Open Records Requests for the last two years has been to keep this information easily accessible to everyone in our community. I suggest attempting to communicate directly with the editor to convey community-wide information, it gets more accomplished than threatening lawsuits.
  • All articles published so far will remain. I myself, as both an author and Community Developer, would much rather write stories of progress and positivity. However, transparency is a must, these events have in fact occurred, and sweeping them under the rug yet again does no one any justice. 
  • If this isn’t agreeable, consider this:
    • I have voluntarily used my own funds to purchase:
    • Microphone: $47.99
    • GoPro: $300 This was donated by another community member. 
    • Tripod: $30
    • Website: $300 per year, we’re nearing year 3
    • Portable Scanner: $300
    • Adobe Premier Pro $59.97 per month
    • Attorney fees for Mr. Cartier totaling $1,500. This figure will get much higher if we have to go to court.

to keep our community informed despite the severe lack of transparency from our elected officials. The years of records I have of Open Records Requests have only been for that purpose. The amount of time my partner and I have expended, while not requested by the Board, have been exactly what our small community has needed. Were a monetary value put on this, I would estimate a value of $1,800 for myself and $1,800 per year for my partner. Equipment costs, time spent, combined with the Board having it on public record that I stole the Wirebuilt website is resulting in a fair round number of $5,000. And while I know the Board will turn it around as if I took money from the Village, if the Board does not wish to revoke the vote to purchase a website, I’m happy to take those funds and begin a properly registered 501(c)3 to benefit the residents of Alvo. Please keep in mind, this is half of our current salaries, and all of this has been provided completely free of charge to the Village as it currently is. If preferred, I would be willing to remove the paywall for the videos for all of our community to freely view, however, my stipulation there would be to strictly adhere to copyright laws as those are still not Village property. 

• All Board members step down and allow the community to step up. Especially Larry Langer, he doesn’t even live in Alvo, this is an open secret, and we know this is problematic.

It was never personal for me, however, I realize the amount of work that my partner and myself have put into this has value. It was not about gaining anything beyond what our community needs. No response was garnered from our Board of Trustees and unfortunately, things have escalated to the point where it’s become quite personal. 

So here is the order permitting us to file a First Amendment. Editor’s Note: This particular document was not yet available to me when I last wrote about our pending litigation. 

During the Show Cause Hearing on June 3rd, my attorney and I asked to be permitted to file a Second Amendment, and that request was granted:

 We asked for a week worth of an extension because life happens:

And on Monday, June 24th, we filed our Second Amendment with further Exhibits:

And so from here, we wait for the defendants to file their response to the Second Amendment. Once filed, a trial date will be established with the court. 

I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated. As always, you’re welcome to reach out with questions at editor@villageofalvo.com. Be sure to say hello to your neighbors and get out for an adventure when you can!